Seasonal variation of mogrosides in Lo Han Kuo (Siraitia grosvenori) fruits

Mogrosides at different growth stages of Lo Han Kuo (Siraitia grosvenori) fruits were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using TLC and HPLC. The results show that we can clearly discriminate the seasonal variation of the main mogrosides in Lo Han Kuo fruits: mogroside V is the main constituent of ripe fruits, while mogrosides III and II E are the leading components in unripe fruits. A comprehensive validation (sensitivity, linearity, reproducibility and recovery) of an HPLC method that can simultaneously determine the content of mogrosides V, III and II E was conducted. This method is proposed as a simple, rapid and accurate method for quantitative determination of the mogroside V, mogroside III and mogroside II E content in various samples of Lo Han Kuo (S. grosvenori) fruits.